Parliament told Zimbabwe police collect only $15 million annually from traffic fines

The Zimbabwe Republic Police collects up to $15 million in traffic fines annually, Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo told Parliamentarians today.

“The whole year it’s between $12 million and $15 million and it’s all accounted for,” Chombo told the  Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructural Development.

It is the first time government or the ZRP have revealed how much is collected from traffic fines.

Three years ago, former Zimbabwe Revenue Authority commissioner, Gershem Pasi, projected the figure between $3 million and $7 million monthly, which the police angrily denied.

Chombo’s statement puts the figure between $1 million and $1.25 million monthly.

However, the recent Parliament Budget Office‘s report on statutory funds shows that the ZRP expects to collect $59.4 million this year.

The police are allowed to retain all the money to fund operations.

The PBO’s report also estimates that the combined revenues collected by government institutions or departments outside the budget could have over $1 billion in 2016 if “had they been properly and accurately accounted for”.

This includes revenues from fines and user charges collected by the Zimbabwe Republic Police, Zinara, Environmental Management Agency, Judicial Services Commission and the Registrar General’s Office, among other government agencies.

“This comes at a time when Zimbabwe’s budget has remained static at US$4 billion annually as fiscal revenues continue to dwindle. This situation has eroded the stimulus power of the budget to propel the economy and move the country to middle income status,” read the report.

Chombo said from next week, police would reduce the number of roadblocks to only four per province, responding to concerns over numerous roadblocks and harassment of tourists on the country’s roads.

“The Zimbabwe Republic Police is from next week going to reduce roadblocks to not more than four roadblocks per province. We will remove all the unnecessary roadblocks and remain with only necessary roadblocks,” he said.

Last year, a report by corruption watchdog Transparency International showed that an overwhelming majority of Zimbabwe’s businesses perceive the police as one of the country’s most corrupt government agent.

A visitor exit survey (VES)  of nearly 40 000 foreign tourists over a 12 month period between 2015 and November 2016, whose results were released in February this year, showed that nearly 60 percent of visitors were harassed by the police.-The Source

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